Letter: Democrats hypocritical in Iran letter criticism

The Democratic Party, with national media support, is piling on the Republican Party. A Republican senator, Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, with the support of 46 other Republican politicians, posted on his website an open letter to Iran. The letter detailed the difficulties inherent in negotiating agreements with a president who does not enjoy the support of his Legislature or the American people.

Ignoring the seemingly undeniable points raised in the letter, the opponents have attacked its form, calling it all sorts of things, including “treason” and “unprecedented.” Treason normally refers to rendering aid and comfort to the enemy. It is unclear that President Barack Obama’s administration considers Iran an “enemy.” And it is just as unclear how the letter provides any “comfort” to the Iranian leaders.

“Unprecedented” also seems a bit odd, considering similar activities taken by Democrats in the past 40 years: Ted Kennedy negotiating with Russia for a political advantage against Ronald Reagan; Nancy Pelosi visiting Syria in 2007; George McGovern to Cuba in 1975; Jimmy Carter’s letter to the U.N. Security Council opposing George H.W. Bush policies, etc.

“Politics end at the water’s edge,” Democrats scream. “Utter disbelief,” John Kerry says. Has he forgotten negotiating with the North Vietnamese in Paris in 1970? Was the “water’s edge” the banks of the Seine? What about Kerry’s trip to Managua to confer with Daniel Ortega back in the Sandinista days? Mirror, mirror on the wall?

The only offense committed by the Republicans is showcasing the narcissistic, incompetent, unlawful, anti-Semitic attempts by the administration to trade a pathway to a nuclear warhead to Iran in exchange for assistance in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq. No one’s legacy is worth this disaster in the making. It is the administration’s actions, leaving Israel vulnerable, which are truly traitorous and unprecedented.

The only actual problem with the letter is that when the Obama policies fail, as they undoubtedly will, the media and the Democrats will attempt to shift the blame, which belongs squarely on Obama’s shoulders, to this innocuous letter.